Back Creek at Sunrise Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Back Creek at Sunrise in VA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location VA, United States
- Watershed upper james
- Primary gauge 02011470 (USGS)
About Back Creek at Sunrise
Back Creek at Sunrise sits in the Upper James watershed, Virginia.
What the record shows
This USGS gauge has 42 years of record.
The high-water mark is 8.99 ft (2.74 m), set in January 2010. The low-water mark is 3.71 ft (1.13 m), set in November 2008. Those two points frame the range anyone using the creek needs to keep in mind.
The seasonal pattern is fairly tight. March is the highest typical month at 4.82 ft (1.47 m), while October is the lowest typical month at 4 ft (1.22 m). The typical annual swing is 9.8 in (24.9 cm). For a dock, intake, or shallow crossing, that is enough variation to matter, even when the creek is not near a record.
The watershed
The station drains 75.6 sq mi (196 km2) above the gauge. That is the area feeding this reading, not the full watershed name on the map.
For this part of Virginia, the seasonal rhythm is rain-driven. Winter and spring are when higher water is most often part of the picture, while brief summer low flows can show up between storms. Late-summer rises can also come fast when tropical remnants reach the basin. For people living along the creek, that means the water level can change quickly after a wet spell, and the low-water season can leave less margin for shallow intakes and small craft.
Reading the hero number
The number shown on the page is today’s reading compared with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it puts the current stage in context: you can tell whether the creek is behaving like a typical day, a high day, or a low day for this date.
This page uses USGS data, and the record spans more than 42 years, so the comparison rests on a long local history rather than a single reading.
How this page is built
Readings come from official government gauges and are rolled into daily records: the daily mean, high and low for every day on record. Each calendar day gets its own baseline from the full history, so the level you see is compared against what this specific date usually looks like rather than an annual average.
How Nibi Metrics works · Water stories
Nibi Metrics - live water levels, flow, and forecasts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK
Real-time water levels, forecasts, and alerts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 13,000 gauged lakes and rivers across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, and the Environment Agency for England. Every number on the platform is measured, not modelled - taken from a government gauge on the water itself and compared against that location's own historical record for this exact date.
What you can see for any monitored lake or river
The level right now, in feet or metres, updated as the source agency publishes new readings - for many stations that is every five to fifteen minutes. How today compares to typical: every location carries its own typical-for-this-date band built from its historical record, so a reading is never just a number - it is above, below, or near what this water usually does on this calendar day. Which way it is moving: a measured RISING, FALLING, or STEADY verdict computed from the gauge's own recent readings, with the rate of change - the difference between a flood ending and one beginning. What comes next: level forecasts up to 72 hours ahead, driven by the gauge's recent behaviour, upstream water, and quantitative precipitation forecasts, alongside live radar, lightning, and weather for the surrounding region.
Alerts that watch the water for you
Set a threshold on any location - a level, a distance above typical, or a rate of climb - and Nibi emails or notifies you the moment the gauge crosses it. Cottagers use it for spring freshet, anglers for river conditions, marinas and municipalities for operations. The scanning runs around the clock against the same measured data shown on every page.
Where Nibi comes from
Nibi means water in Anishinaabemowin. The platform began at a family cottage on Lake Muskoka, Ontario, where the spring melt floods the shoreline most years and the only forecast was standing on the dock, looking, and guessing. It grew into an independent, member-funded platform run by Muskoka Research Inc. - no investors, no data resale, and a privacy policy shorter than most cookie banners. The core data is free for everyone, forever; paid plans add automation like multi-location alerts, deep history, and reports.
Coverage
Nibi spans the continent: every Canadian province and territory with active federal gauges - from Vancouver Island rivers to the Muskoka lakes, prairie reservoirs, and Quebec's hydrometric network - and the United States from Maine to the Texas Hill Country, the Ohio Valley, and the Pacific Northwest. Coverage grows where the water news is: when a basin floods, its gauges join the platform with their full historical records attached. Many stations report every five to fifteen minutes; most report at least hourly; every page states exactly when its gauge last spoke.
Free forever, funded by members
The core promise is simple: the water data is free, for everyone, forever. Live levels, maps, radar, and recent history never sit behind a paywall. Paid plans fund the platform by adding automation - multi-location alerts, decades of history, longer forecasts, and PDF reports - so the people who need more carry the cost for everyone who just needs to check the lake before driving up. There are no investors and no advertising deals shaping what the data says.
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How every number is computed - About the platform
